Band of Brothers

This was my third time watching through Band of Brothers, and this viewing was just as compelling as the first.  In fact, each time I've watched it has arguably been more interesting than the time before.  The reason for that is that Band of Brothers is a show with tremendous depth.  There is simply a lot to take in here in terms of story, and I challenge anyone to catch at all the first time though.  In fact, repeated viewings are practically required in this case.  

There is an enormous cast of characters, and each one is very unique, with motivation and characterization all their own.  So enormous, in fact, that the first time through, I had difficulty even telling all of them apart.  The second time, I got a good grasp of the main players.  On this third viewing, I began to notice more of the background characters and what makes them tick.  And there are a lot of background characters, many of them played by actors who went on to be very famous.  If you want to watch a movie featuring stars as varied as Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Simon Pegg, Jimmy Fallon, and James McAvoy, this might be your only chance. 

Another impressive thing about Band of Brothers is how smart it is. This series came out in 2001, which was a couple of years after The Sopranos, but well before shows like Breaking Bad and The Wire made cinematic television the norm.  Despite that, each episode is like a movie (not surprising, given the involvement of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks).  There isn't really a weak link in the cast performance-wise, and the cinematography is on par with anything in theaters today.  The battle scenes, while actually not as frequent as you might expect, are pitch perfect.  Of course, I have never been to war, but given the fact that real veterans give (often heartbreaking) insight before each episode, I trust that they endorse those scenes, which is good enough for me. And they certainly pass the eyeball test.

I also love how subtle Band of Brothers is.  Making a movie about war involves a delicate combination of fact and drama while never becoming too preachy or jingoistic.  I feel that this miniseries absolutely nails that combination.  The series isn't interested in making any grand statement about the nature of war or it's necessity (although those themes are, of course, touched upon).  Instead, it's a depiction of the men who fought World War II and the incredible situations they experienced, while developing lifelong bonds along the way.  There is no hand holding in regards to the plot, and there are no grand monologues attempting to explain it all.  It is, simply, a moving depiction of the events as they occurred.  

There aren't too many television shows out there that excel both as art and as an educational tool, but were a history teacher, I would feel as comfortable showing Band of Brothers to my classroom as I would sitting back and enjoying it at home on DVD with a spouse or a loved one.  It's that good.  "Why We Fight", the second to last episode, in particular is one of the finest hours of television ever.  Human beings could argue endlessly about the necessity of World War II or of any war, but there is no doubt that the stories of those men who fight in them deserves preservation.  For the soldiers who fought in World War II, and for the men of Easy Company in particular, I could think of no finer tribute than a near-perfect work of art such as Band of Brothers.

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 8 - Too Far Gone

I liked "Too Far Gone" a lot.  That isn't too surprising given that the mid-season finales of "Walking Dead" tend to be among the best episodes of any season.  And this one was playing with a stacked to begin since I was DESPERATE to spend an hour with any character other than "Brian" after the last two episodes.  But there was lots of stuff to like here.

Perhaps first and foremost, our time with The Governor has come to an end.  I have to say I didn't expect him to die here (even though I know some person(s) was getting the ax based on Facebook/Twitter chatter), but that's mostly because I don't think it makes any sense to kill him when they did.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they did.  And after waffling back forth for a season and a half, I'm ready to declare that the character was indeed a failure in his television incarnation.  But why now?  Why not at the end of the third season?

Briefly perusing the reviews of this "Too Far Gone" on various sites, it was a common reaction: why wasn't this the finale to season 3?  And it's hard to come up with a good reason why it wasn't.  The logical ending to season 3 was the Governor and his people storming the prison and either succeeding, or failing with The Governor dying in the process.  Instead, we got a weird non-ending only to have The Governor pop up again a few episodes into the next season, ramble through a couple of mostly boring episodes designed to build up his back story, then die anyway.  I thought those Governor episodes were a waste of time when I watched them initially.  Now, knowing that The Governor and most of the characters he met are now dead, I think it was a waste of time and I want my two hours back too.

But all that complaining aside, The Governor did meet his end in an extremely fitting manner, and this was an incredibly eventful episode otherwise.  Hershel bit the bullet (in probably the most affecting death in the history of the series) along with Judith.  The final action sequence was up to the incredible standard of this show, and several characters had genuinely cool heroic moments (Darryl, Michonne, and Carl primary among them).  Furthermore, at the end of it all, Rick and company appear to be scattered to the winds.  It looks like they've hit the reset button on The Walking Dead again, and that is probably for the best.  The show tends to get stale when bogged down in one place for too long.  

I don't know how long our heroes will be separated, but I look forward to them perhaps having some isolated adventures and  meeting up with new, unique characters.  I'm also curious to see if the show will introduce a new "big bad", or if the focus will be more on the characters surviving on the road and fighting zombies.  The aftermath of Hershel's death should also be interesting.  It will be tough to wait until February, but "Too Far Gone" succeeded in keeping me hooked until then.

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 7 - Dead Weight

Well, I'll give this twosome of Governor-centric episodes of Walking Dead this much: they have succeeded in giving The Governor a lot more depth as a character (of course, they were starting from zero, so any development in that area would have been an improvement).  Unfortunately, the bad part is that, even after spending these two hours with The Governor, I just don't like him very much.  And that isn't because he is a bad guy.  Merle was (mostly) a bad guy, but I recognized his value as a character.  I don't like The Governor because, despite the best efforts of this show, he just isn't very interesting.

I used to think that the performance of David Morrissey wasn't the problem with The Governor.  After "Dead Weight", though, I'm not sure anymore.  You see, we're a season and a half into this Governor thing, and it still just hasn't clicked.  Sure, you could blame the problems with the character on the writing, but if Morrissey were truly great in the role, he would have risen above such issues by now.  Walking Dead the TV show obviously decided to go a different route with the character of The Governor than the comic, but I'm wondering now if they wouldn't have been better served sticking more closely to the comic book version.

The Governor in the comics is a lot less complex character than the one they are trying to create with the TV show, but he is a lot more interesting.  And a character like that (with little more motivation or backstory other than being a complete and utter evil psycho) might have been a little easier for the show to convey.  Alas, that ship has sailed, and we are stuck with this version of The Governor.  As I said, all is not lost: the character has become somewhat more compelling over the last two episodes.  But I REALLY wish they had compressed this story into one episode instead of two.  Yes, the transformation "Brian" undergoes might have been a little more jarring under those circumstances, but the Walking Dead is hardly Shakespeare in the first place, so why concern ourselves with quibbles like that now?

I complain a lot about the main characters of Walking Dead (mostly about how boring/unnecessary/poorly-written most of them are), but I was absolutely begging for anybody (yes, even Bob or Carl) from the main story-line to pop up during this episode.  The characters we meet in "Dead Weight" are all pretty uninteresting, and most of them will probably be dead within a few episodes anyway, so why force us to spend an hour with them (and only them)?  Luckily, this episode ended on a note that indicates our weekly Governor Power Hour is finished, and some stuff might actually happen that affects our main characters (you know, the ones we have spent four seasons with and actually care about?).  Cheers for that, at least.

The Pro Basketball Talk - The Next Crop of International NBA Greats

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Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 6 - Live Bait

I'll be honest.  I wasn't very interested in learning about what The Governor had been up to since we last saw him in season 3.  I like David Morrissey, but I just haven't been impressed with the way his character has been written on the show.  And so the idea of an entire episode devoted to The Governor didn't exactly strike me as a potentially great hour of television.  Walking Dead had an excellent opportunity to prove me wrong in that regard with "Live Bait", but unfortunately the episode failed to do so.  In the end, I felt this sixth episode of the season was just as unnecessary an exercise as I suspected it might be beforehand.  

If the makers of Walking Dead were absolutely set on presenting us with the information we got from "Live Bait" , I would have been fine with starting things where the episode ended: The Governor meeting up with Martinez (a character who I guess isn't going away for some reason).  From that point on, he could have recounted his story himself, in the form of a flashback and in a much more succinct fashion.  That way, we could have kept our Governor-centric episodes down to 1, instead of the 2 that it looks will we get.  Once again, I don't blame David Morrissey for the shortcomings of this story arc.  His role in "Live Bait" is a challenging one, and he actually does a pretty good job given the material he is given.

But the writing on Walking Dead continues to be a weak link, and that fact stands out like a sore in quiet, largely event-less episodes like this one.  The sequences at the beginning, with The Governor shuffling around like a zombie hybrid of Forrest Gump and Snake Plissken, bordered on laughably bad.  And his scenes with the Chambler family aren't much better.  The Chamblers babble away their entire life story shortly after meeting "Brian", obviously providing some needed exposition, but it's unclear why they would be so forthcoming with information given that The Governor doesn't appear to be even a slightly willing conversation partner.  Additionally, there is precious little chemistry between The Governor and his new love interest Lilly.

I understand what the show is trying to do with "Live Bait".  They want to make The Governor into a more sympathetic character, and they succeeded somewhat in doing so.  But I question whether we needed to devote an entire episode to that endeavor.  Especially when the action was just beginning to heat up at the prison.  The result is that the momentum of season 4 has come to a screeching halt just when it should be reaching a fever pitch heading into the mid-season hiatus.  Here is hoping that, next episode, some of our other main characters will pop in to make things more interesting.

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 5 - Internment

Scott Wilson is arguably the strongest actor on Walking Dead, so a Hershel-centric episode like "Internment" certainly had lots of promise.  In the end, "Internment" turned out to be a strong episode and a great showcase for Hershel, even if it did provide little in the way of forward progress for the show.  Hershel isn't my one of my favorite characters on the show, largely because I find him a little one-dimensional, but there is no denying the power of his story arc throughout this season.  As good as Wilson has been though, the real star of the show remained the"superflu" that is knocking off prison inhabitants left and right.

Walking Dead is, of course, a show about zombies.  However, it can't be a show only about zombies because, frankly, that wouldn't be very interesting.  In the first season, much of the conflict very much centered around zombies and questions like what are they, how do we stop them, is there a cure etc.  By the start of the second season, though, we were dealing with characters who have become pretty accustomed to living in this zombie-occupied world, and know how to handle themselves accordingly.  Thus, the zombies, while still omnipresent, became somewhat less of a threat.

At that point, obviously, some new conflict had to be created.  Over the intervening seasons, Walking Dead has explored all sorts of conflict from within the group (the endless debate and moralizing of season 2, as well as the various pissing contests between Shane and Rick) and without (most notably with The Governor and Woodbury).  Each of these story lines has had a varying degree of success, but the deadly virus in this season has been one of the very best "antagonists" this show has had.

First of all, there is something very primal, and very real about the threat of a virus in a post-apocalyptic scenario.  Killer diseases have plagued mankind since the beginning of time, and it's only recently with modern medicine and technological innovations have we gained the upper hand in that struggle. But in a world like the one in Walking Dead, all that goes out the window.  A virus or infection that may have been totally innocuous at one time suddenly becomes life threatening.  And there is almost nothing that you can do except hope for the best.  That makes for great drama.

And so I've really enjoyed these last few episodes.  So much so that I hope the virus angle doesn't simply disappear just because  Daryl returned to the prison with some antibiotics.  Yes, the Governor returned this week, but I hope that show doesn't just become "The Governor Hour".  The virus story line is a good one, and it deserves some more time to play out.

As for the return of The Governor, I have mixed feelings.  I found the character promising at the onset of last season, but gradually lost interest.  He is a monumental bastard, but for seemingly no good reason other than that he is written that way. I would definitely like to see a little more depth given to the character this season.  It should be interesting, though, to see how exactly he reveals himself to our heroes, and how much he is responsible, if any, for previous events this season.  Not to mention Carol is still out there somewhere, presumably.  With the midseason hiatus looming, there are a lot of directions Walking Dead could go in, and I'm excited to see what happens next.

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 4 - Indifference

Titling an episode "Indifference" is a pretty ballsy move on the part of The Walking Dead.  The show certainly has plenty of detractors, and those individuals will have no problem mocking this episode based on the title.  Luckily, I am, of course, a fan of the show, and I thought this episode was passable, although a title like "Largely unimpressed" would be a more accurate description of my attitude towards it.

Season 4 of Walking Dead has been heavy on scenes intended to effect us (the audience) emotionally. These moments landed well in the previous episode, "Isolated", but "Indifference" is a different story.  The episode opens with an exchange between Carol and her "daughter" that falls a flat.  Child actors are always a little hit and miss, and while Lizzie is better than Carl at his worst, she just isn't a character I can bring myself to care about, despite her ample screen time so far this season.  

"Indifference" is a highly Carol-centric episode in general (unsurprising given the events of "Isolated").  I've enjoyed her character arc this season (and throughout the show in general), and her scenes with Rick here were pretty good.  Andrew Lincoln does a pretty good job of expressing his growing distrust (and perhaps disgust?) of Carol, and there are some wonderful subtle moments between the two (such as Rick's reaction when Carol essentially sends the young couple they randomly meet while scavenging to their death).  But as much as I have enjoyed the Carol story line, this send-off (while likely not a permanent one) for her seemed a little weak.  I hope that she will pop up again soon.

Also in this episode, Daryl and his crew engage in some mostly boring adventures.  There are a few good moments between Daryl and Michonne (and it is very cool to observe their growing chemistry), but Tyreese is a little too one-dimensional "angry black man" in this episode for my tastes, especially given how great Chad Coleman was in the previous episode.  And Bob...well, Bob is the only character I may care about less than Lizzie.  

Overall, "Indifference" could have benefited from some more prison scenes.  Things seemed so dire back there in the last episode, but time must have frozen during the events of this episode, because we got no updates about the mysterious flu situation.  Walking Dead is a show that has shown an unfortunate tendency to get bogged down in the past, and we are dangerously close to having that issue yet again.  The good news is this: Rick will undoubtedly have some explaining to do when he returns to the prison, and that should lead to some much needed conflict (of the non-Bob variety, that is).

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 3 - Isolated

"Isolated" may have been my favorite episode of Walking Dead so far this season.  Season 4 has been solid if unspectacular so far, but "Isolated" feels like the best realization (so far) of what I consider to be a new approach for the series.  Walking Dead has moved further into the realm of human drama than ever before this season, and that approach, while arguably a risky one, definitely pays dividends in this episode.  Luckily, the show has quietly assembled a pretty solid cast of actors who, while often suffering from the flimsy characterization and writing that has defined Walking Dead over the years, can actually emote a little when given the chance.  

"Isolated" is indeed a very emotional episode with lots of characters facing a life-threatening illness (and kudos to the show for actually infecting some important characters), and their loved ones dealing with the repercussions of that fact.  Chad Coleman, whose Tyreese is a prominent member of the Michonne-captained "Walking Dead Underdeveloped Character All-Stars", is excellent in this episode, and Scott Wilson (Hershel) is solid as well.  Carol and Rick (among others) also have emotional scenes to slightly less effect, but the overall tone of the episode is nevertheless very good due to some solid performances.

After last season and the Governor experience, it feels a little odd for the show to be lacking a "Big Bad", but the threat of the illness alone is really working for now.  The idea of an epidemic in a post-apocalyptic scenario is a pretty clever one and I can't remember it being explored very much elsewhere.  I'm curious whether thar story line will linger for a while, or if Darryl returning with the antibiotics in the next episode or two will be the end of it. If that is the case, of course, Walking Dead  may have another significant story line to explore revolving around Carol, of all people.

The revelation that Carol murdered Karen is likely to be a controversial one among some people, but I'm actually intrigued by it.  The show did somewhat lessen the impact of that particular "bombshell" by dropping some very unsubtle hints throughout "Isolated", but the way it was eventually handled was pretty pitch perfect (Rick asking Carol if she was responsible, followed by a casual "Yes" from Carol and a fade to black).  Some may find all this a little out of character for Carol, but those people have somehow overlooked the gradual transformation of Carol into one of the coldest characters on Walking Dead.

I'm curious to see how things develop from here (and how our characters handle Carol), but I hope the show doesn't become too mired in the sort of moralizing that bogged everything down in season 2.  If they can avoid that pitfall, it should be interesting to see the fallout from this situation and how it will affect characters such as Tyreese and Darryl in particular.  

The Pro Basketball Talk - 2013-2014 Season Preview: Milwaukee Bucks

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Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 2 - Infected

Human drama isn't something Walking Dead always does particularly well, despite much effort over the years.  The characters in the show have often been forgettable, and the overall acting inconsistent enough that it just doesn't work.  That said, season 4 is lacking a villain thus far, and is in the meantime relying largely on the interplay between the residents of the prison to keep us engaged.  The result is hardly a home run, but it isn't terrible either. 

Walking Dead has clearly come a long way since seasons 1 and 2, and the strength of the ensemble cast is one area where it may have improved the most.  A lot of really bad characters have been killed off over the years, and while there are still some undesirables hanging around, for the most part the most interesting characters have survived.  The strength of the cast (relative to previous seasons) is particularly obvious in an episode like "Infected".  For example: Michonne has been a bit of a letdown on this show so far, but the character is still intriguing.  So when she has a baby bonding moment with Judith that may provide a clue about her very mysterious background, it's a thousand times interesting than, say, the Carol domestic violence story line of season 1.

Ironically, one of the most divisive characters of Walking Dead has been, and will likely remain, Rick Grimes.  Some hate him; others tolerate him.  Some even think the acting of Andrew Lincoln has a lot in common with a Sequoia tree (for what it's worth, I actually think he has his moments).  It's a pretty big handicap for any show when the main character is disliked by so many, and Walking Dead is no exception.  Sadly, while season 4 is off to a largely solid start, Rick is not so great in "Infected" after having a solid storyline in the season premiere.  Apparently, his quiet, pastoral life of Farmer Rick lasted a grand total of one episode (probably a good idea given that our fearless leader is even more boring without a gun).  

Now, however, Rick (and Carl) are packing again, and it looks like business is about to pick up in the next episode. I'm curious to see whether the the person feeding the zombies is our new season 4 "big bad", a disgruntled resident of the prison, or something else entirely.  The graphic novel usually has a villain our heroes are contending with, and the television version would be wise to follow suit: it provides focus and raises the tension (and the stakes) a bit.  Hopefully, Walking Dead won't drag out this reveal for too long; for now, the human drama is enough, but the show shouldn't push it's luck.

Twin Peaks

I recently finished watching Twin Peaks for the first time.  Here are my thoughts:

Twin Peaks has aged really well, and that isn't something you can say about a lot of things that came from the 90's.  Historically, 70's and 80's television and movies have fared better in that regard.  Maybe the show is helped by the fact that Twins Peaks was actually born of that transitory period between decades and before the 90's had become truly ridiculous (check out an episode of Full House to see what I mean).  Obviously, the hairstyles and the attire are dated.  But content-wise the show itself wouldn't be too out of place on television today (it might be a better show, too, on HBO or some other modern cable network where many of the more adult themes that lay bubbling beneath the surface could be explored more in-depth).  Not to say that Twin Peaks was in any way tame television as is.  Even watching it in 2013, I was shocked by some of the content of the show.  Some of the murders are pretty shocking, and Maddie's death in particular stood out as very graphic (and lengthy).   

Grisly murders aside, there was also no shortage of drugs, sex, and violence (usually involving minors) in every episode.  Of course, most of this content was spoken of rather than shown explicitly, which gave the show a very soap opera-y feel.  In fact Twin Peaks was often essentially a very edgy soap, rife with enough love triangles, baby mama drama, hookups and breakups to satisfy any All My Children fan.  But of course, what made the show truly enthralling was its inherent weirdness.  Twin Peaks is a product of the mind of David Lynch, one of those directors (along with Quentin Tarantino for example) with such a singular style that when you watch something they've made, you know exactly what kind of thing you’re in store for.  For what it’s worth, Twin Peaks is probably the most “normal” David Lynch work that I've seen, but that isn't saying much, and the show is still pretty trippy by television standards. 

I mentioned earlier that Twin Peaks wouldn't be out of place on television today, and I meant that, but one thing that shocked me is the degree to which the show was well-known in its day; was a culture phenomenon it became.  Perhaps it’s a testament to the fact that there was simply less great television (and less choice) in that era.  But in this golden age of TV, I think a niche show like Twin Peaks would be struggling to find an audience.  The show does a good job of mixing in humor with the heavy stuff (something Lynch doesn't always bother to do in his movies), but Twin Peaks is often surreal, bordering on incomprehensible, and very dark.  I just couldn't imagine it capturing the attention of a wide audience today.  

What the show does have is a substantial cult following, which I think would only have been enhanced were it on the air today.  I could easily see Twin Peaks developing a Lost-like legion of obsessives who pore over every detail, and dissect the mythology of the show endlessly on internet message boards.  Perhaps that would have been enough to carry the show to more than two seasons today, but it’s hard to say.  As entertaining as Twin Peaks was throughout, it clearly lost its way to a certain extent after the Laura Palmer case was solved.  Perhaps it is better that Peaks only lasted two seasons anyway.  The “lightning in a bottle” aspect only adds to the mystique surrounding the show.

And of course, the legacy of Twin Peaks lives on today.  There are countless longer-lived shows that surely would never have existed without its influence (X-Files comes immediately to mind).    And Lost fans who are upset with the way that show ended should be required by law to watch the series finale of Twin Peaks.  Literally nothing is resolved and nearly every major character is involved in some cliffhanger at the conclusion.  But it’s hard to be upset about it because “Beyond Life and Death” is one of the highlights of the series and one of the most genuinely unsettling and terrifying hours of TV ever.  In other words, a damn fine end to a damn good television show.  

Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 1 - 30 Days Without an Accident

The biggest show on cable television has changed show-runners again.  For a show that is so enormously popular, Walking Dead has had a surprising amount of turnover at the top, and that pattern continues again this year with Scott M. Gimple taking charge.  This would be cause for concern for a lot of other shows (imagine if Vince Gilligan had left Breaking Bad after season three) but in the case of Walking Dead, no one seems to be panicking.  Probably because, despite all the upheaval throughout it's four seasons, the quality of the show just hasn't varied much.  Season two was probably the only one considered somewhat of a disappointment, but even that one had it's moments (and sports a healthy rating of 80 on Metacritic).

Part of the reason for this is that Walking Dead, simply put, is no Breaking Bad.  Or Mad Men, or any other critically acclaimed hour-long drama favored by the intelligentsia.  This show is not deep (although it often hilariously aspires to be).  There is no complex, overarching narrative.  It's just a pulpy, guilty pleasure that happens to be watched by 16 million people.  The quality of the story has varied a bit throughout the series, but the incredible makeup and zombie effects have not.  And neither have the action sequences.  And as long as Walking Dead continues to excel in those areas, the ratings will be there.  

That said, each season of the series has had a pretty unique identity, and "30 Days Without an Accident" provides our first glimpse into what our characters will be dealing with this season.  The episode was low-key overall, obviously setting the table for things to come while introducing a host of new characters (and changes to old characters).  It was also less of a downer than this show has tended to be at times.  The cast of the show has expanded exponentially, and I for one think it's a good idea.  There are some obvious standout characters on The Walking Dead (Daryl, occasionally Michonne), but many more are inconsistent, or just plain uninteresting.  Expanding the cast ensures we don't have to stick around too long with those uninteresting characters, and provides a lot more zombie fodder as well (like poor Zach this week; we hardly knew you brother).

I got a pretty serious Lost vibe from "30 Days Without an Accident" (in a good way) because it felt like all the characters were going on with their respective lives and we were just dropping in and out to see what they were up to this week.  That sort of unencumbered approach bodes well for future episodes.  Also of note was the great zombie sequence involving Daryl and company in the supermarket.  Over four seasons, there have been countless scenarios like that one (the characters sneak into some dark area, somebody screws up, a ton of zombies converge on them like white on rice), but kudos to the creators for finding a way to put a fresh spin on it (the zombies dropping in on our heroes via a decaying roof).  I particularly enjoyed the numerous squishy zombies who merely exploded into zombie paste upon colliding with the supermarket floor.  Just the sort of gross detail I've come to expect from Walking Dead.

Overall, "30 Days Without an Accident" was a solid, if somewhat uneventful start, to the season.  Rick may not able to come back from all the terrible things he has done, but I'm glad he has come back to my television set (and brought all his zombie-slaying friends with him).

The Pro Basketball Talk - 2013-2014 Season Preview: Houston Rockets

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Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 16 "Felina"

The word that seems to be getting thrown around a lot in regards to the series finale of Breaking Bad is "satisfying".  And "Felina" was certainly that.  For a long-running show with such an enormous following (apparently over 10 million people watched this episode), there was, incredibly, very little grousing among fans about the final episode.  The people responsible for Dexter can tell you difficult it is to accomplish that feat.  Fans have invested hours and hours of their lives into these programs, not just watching them but endlessly dissecting every twist and turn on the internet and with friends.  In the end, they want a reward for their devotion, and that reward, for most people, should come in the form of a series finale that goes exactly the way they want it to.

With "Felina", most fans got exactly that. Walt is dead (but he want out on his own terms).  The Nazis and (perhaps most importantly) Todd are dead.  Lydia bit the bullet (or drank the Ricin in this case).  Jesse and the White family live on.  If you had a taken a poll of Breaking Bad fans before this episode aired, asking exactly what fate they would prefer for each character, the results would likely have been very similar to what actually happened (except perhaps for a few folks who would have wished the fate of Walter and Skyler reversed).

But not only did those who deserved to die die, and those who deserved to live live, Breaking Bad, typical of a show so sharply-written, left no stone un-turned in it's pursuit to dot every 'i' and cross every 't'. Often, after a show as huge as this one ends, there are a multitude of individuals on Twitter and elsewhere asking questions like "but what about...?" and "so, in the end, what was the meaning of...?"  Not so after "Felina" (with a few minor exceptions, such as the fate of poor Huell).  It shouldn't be too surprising.  Vince Gilligan and company, for better or worse, have never been above a little fan service.  Reading interviews with Gilligan and other individuals behind the show makes it clear how acutely aware they were of the expectations of their audience in making "Felina".  For example, they apparently never considered killing Jesse, essentially because he was so likable and his fans (including the showrunners themselves) had already been through enough over the course of the show.

That sort of thinking seems pretty unique among long-running dramas.  For instance, I don't think David Chase gave even one second of thought to how fans would feel about the final episode of The Sopranos.  And Damon Lindelof and crew seemed to actually get a kick out of torturing Lost fans by introducing more puzzles into the landscape of that show and never answering them.  Love or hate the Gilligan approach, "Felina" certainly has a garnered a better response than either of those shows did in their final moments.  Of course, there are a vocal minority who disliked the tidiness of the Breaking Bad ending.  They feel everything ended a little too neatly.  And those people may have a point.  Breaking Bad to this point, was so unrelentingly dark, and so loaded with controversial plot twists, that "Felina" does seem a little out of character in that regard.  Maybe that's why it feels like the episode falls just outside of the series finale Hall of Fame, currently inhabited by shows like Six Feet Under and The Shield.

In the end, though, while the ending may not have been as controversial or world-altering as some would have liked, it did feel right.  And in the end, how much does the final episode of a show really matter anyway?  All told, Breaking Bad gave us more hours of solid entertainment than any other show I've mentioned in this article.  And probably four to five episodes that rank among the top ten or fifteen hours of drama on television ever.  And two or more those episodes came in this season alone.  Yes, the phenomenon that was Breaking Bad is finished.  And I have no complaints.  Now all that's left is to look back on the journey and remember the good (and the very bad) times.  Thanks Walter.  May you rest peacefully with thoughts of baby blue dancing forever through your mind.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 15 "Granite State"

I think that you would be hard pressed to find a more tragic figure on television today than poor Jesse Pinkman.  Granted, the kid has been no angel.  He has made some baffling (and bafflingly stupid) decisions over the past five seasons.  But he has, unlike Walter, sought redemption at every turn.  And also unlike his surrogate father Walt, Jesse was never in it for the money, the power, or the recognition.  He has always had a good heart, and good intentions.  But his poor decision making has doomed him at every turn.  And what was Jesse's worst decision?  There are certainly no shortage of options.  Was it sabotaging Hank and the DEA by walking away from the meeting with Walt earlier this season?  Was it shooting Gale?  Was it deciding to cook meth?

Of course, the answer is obvious.  His worst decision was aligning himself with Walter in the first place.  Just like every other character on the show, Jesse's life has been systematically torn apart by the terrifying force of nature that is Walter White. However, as arguably the character who has been closest to Walter the longest (the real Walter, the one that Skyler and Flynn only found out about relatively recently), Jesse is the one who has had his life royally screwed up the most.  After "Ozymandias", it seemed like Mr. Pinkman could suffer no more, but "Granite State" manages to find him at a new all-time low (Breaking Bad has, after all, always been a show that excels in shattering our expectations of how messed up and/or depraved a situation can get).

Clearly, Vince Gilligan isn't, and has never been, interested in taking it easy on his audience, and he is really pushing the limits of how much we can put up with Jesse (and by extension, national sweetheart Aaron Paul) having his soul crushed.  Part of what makes us root for Jesse (other than the charming performance of Mr. Paul) is that we all know someone like him.  Maybe not someone who has worked under a meth kingpin or committed murder, but someone who is a good person and simply fell into the wrong crowd.  And just like Jesse, those individuals usually find themselves sliding down a slippery slope from which they can't recover.

And who is waiting at the bottom of that slope?  In the case of Jesse Pinkman, it's Todd.  Oh Todd.  Anyone familiar with Friday Night Lights knew that Jesse Plemons is capable of some superior work, but he has really outdone himself over the last handful of episodes, and "Granite State" may be his magnum opus.  His performance runs the gamut from bashful, yet somewhat adorable creep (in the scenes with Lydia) to absolutely terrifying specter (in the White household).  What makes the character of Todd so unsettling is the same incongruity that made a character like Kevin from Sin City so memorable.  We want our psychos to obviously be psychos.  Drooling at the mouth, twitching, wild-eyed, all the cliches.  So when a maniac as terrifying as Todd looks instead like Richie Cunningham, it just makes things all the more disturbing.  Plemons has excelled at selling that incongruity.  

Yes, Todd and his neo-Nazi band mates have certainly emerged to become among the most memorable villains in Breaking Bad history, but it remains to be seen whether they will be getting their comeuppance at the hands of Walter, or at all. "Granite State" ends with a dying Walter resolute, and seemingly set on going out on his own terms.  That is almost certainly bad news for someone, but it remains to be seen whom that will be.  Therein lies the greatest mystery of our upcoming final episode.  Could be the Nazis, could be Walt's enemies at Grey Matter, could be Jesse for all we know.  But one thing is for sure: we are only a scant 60-plus minutes away from bidding farewell to Walter White forever, and I for one couldn't be more sad.  Hopefully, the payoff will be worth it.  Frankly, after this incredible season, I couldn't imagine a scenario in which Breaking Bad will let us down.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 14 "Ozymandias"

This is getting ridiculous.  Given the way that "To'hajiilee" ended and that this episode was helmed by Looper director Rian Johnson (who was responsible for two of the greatest Breaking Bad eps ever in "The Fly" and "Fifty-One"), we should have known we were in some for some serious mind-numbing craziness in "Ozymandias".  But the third-to-last Breaking Bad ever exceeded all expectations.  There were so many bombshells in this episode that I was left breathless by the end.  I'm talking about the type of wild developments that most series would save for a season or series finale, except there was a ton of them and they all happened in the span of 45 minutes.  And this wasn't even the last episode! Or the penultimate episode, for that matter.  We still have two of these left!

Many shows, when winding down, make the mistake of saving too much content for the final episode.  I understand the intent of the creators in that regard; they don't want to tip too much of their hand, and preserve a sense of intrigue until the very end (looking at you Lost).  The unfortunate by-product of that is that many great shows have a ton of filler in their final season, especially in the episodes right before the finale.  Breaking Bad has deftly evading this pitfall by understanding one essential fact:  it isn't the result that matters, but rather the build-up.  There is a ton of speculation surrounding this show all over the world.  No doubt, someone, somewhere has nailed how Breaking Bad will end with frightening detail, and written about it somewhere on the internet.

In fact, many, many people have surmised from the very first scene of this season that Walt would end up rescuing Jesse on some sort of suicide mission.  The way things are going now, those people are probably right.  But who cares?  Who could complain about the ending of Breaking Bad when the path just to get there has been one of the most enthralling in television history?  Personally, I'm running out of ways to praise this show.  It feels like the last three episodes have all been absolutely perfect, and yet I never seem to be disappointed by what comes next.  At this point, it seems like a foregone conclusion that this will go down as the greatest final season of a television show ever.  This is the television equivalent of Barry Bonds in 2004, except there are no performance-enhancing drugs to be found anywhere.

I also want to praise the creators of Breaking Bad for how unflinching they have been in portraying their vision for the story of Walter White until the very end.  It is a testament to how well-made this show is that it has such a phenomenal following despite being one of the consistently darkest shows on television.  We always knew that Walter would end up destroying everything around him, but imagining it and actually seeing it play out on the screen are two entirely different things.  The trail of bodies Walter has left behind him is staggering, and no one has been spared, regardless of how popular or well-liked.  The shocking thing is that those he killed (directly or indirectly) may be the lucky ones.  Just take a look at the "survivors": Jesse is a shell of a man, and a slave.  Marie is a widow.  Skyler is likely emotionally damaged beyond repair.  Even poor Walter Jr. will probably never have faith in an adult again after finally learning the truth in. "Ozymandias".

Obviously, Walter has went well beyond the point of no return.  At this point, there is no recapturing anything: not his family, not his innocence, and certainly not his pride or self-respect.  The only question remaining is how deep the rabbit hole goes.  And whether his presumed last act, the one foreshadowed since the beginning of this season, will be a magnanimous one, or just as selfishly-motivated as everything he has "accomplished" thus far in the series.

The Pro Basketball Talk - Breaking Out: Potential All-Stars for 2014

http://www.theprobasketballtalk.com/2013/09/breaking-out-potential-all-stars-for.html

Good Point - Attitude Check: When Athletes Make Mistakes

http://thegoodpoint.com/nba-athlete-mistakes/

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 13 "To'hajiilee"

To say that Breaking Bad is on a roll is an understatement.  Most televisions shows sort of fizzle out, coming to an end well after their critical and commercial peak.  Breaking Bad on the other hand, with only a handful of episodes remaining, is enjoying it's highest ratings ever, and season five has been one of the most critically acclaimed of a series that has enjoyed immense critical success from the very beginning.  But just when it seems like things can't get much better for the show that must already be regarded as a contemporary classic, an episode like "To'hajiilee" comes along and takes its place alongside "Fly", "4 Days Out", "Full Measures", and other classic episodes of the series.  

Breaking Bad is a show that is to tension building as Mariano Rivera is to closing baseball games:  It's simply one of the best ever, and every episode is typically a master class.  That said, "To'hajiilee" is arguably the most tense episode of Breaking Bad ever.  There is a sense of foreboding that is simply inescapable throughout the episode.  The reason this tension is so effective is because of how masterful Vince Gilligan and company have been in building towards the events of this final season since day one.  In modern dramas with complicated plots and sprawling casts, maintaining a sense of continuity often proves extremely difficult (unless you're The Wire, which managed to accomplish the feat despite changing casts and settings nearly every season).

In the chase of most long-running dramas, storylines sometimes go nowhere, or are dropped altogether.  Characters come and go, often because of commitments to other projects or some other dispute unrelated to the storyline they are involved in.  But Breaking Bad does not suffer from this phenomenon one bit.  It is a show stunningly free of fat.  Nearly every character, every story fragment, every scene has some payoff in the world of Walter White.  Throughout the entire series, this show has been building the most impossibly dense and tall Jenga tower the world has ever seen, and we the spectators are simply left waiting with bated breath for it to come toppling over.

Breaking Bad uses this tension to great effectiveness (as always) in "To'hajiilee".  We know something terrible is going to happen, we just don't know when and to who.  In the final moments of the episode, we finally get our answer.  I've wondered each episode just and how when the ongoing story line of Todd and Uncle Jack would converge with that of Walter, Hank, Jesse, etc. and I finally got my answer here.  As many people have noted online elsewhere, "To'hajiilee" feels very much like a "Red Wedding"-type episode, with Jack and his crew serving the Lannister/Walder Frey role.  Unlike Game of Thrones though, Breaking Bad has the balls to end the episode at the peak of the slaughter, before we even know who lives or dies.

If this were any other show, the cliffhanger approach might have seemed tacky, but Breaking Bad has actually made relatively little of that particular tool during it's run, so it feels earned.  As to who will live or die, this show is very smart, and so I tend to think that Hank's emotional phone call to Marie is too big of a hint at Hank's demise to be anything other than a red herring.  However, many people do seem to think that Gomez is a goner, and I would be hard pressed to disagree with that prediction.  

With some very major characters apparently ready to bite the bullet, the rapidly approaching end of Breaking Bad feels more real than ever. That fact is saddening for a variety of reasons, but right now I'm simply too caught up in the rush of it all to look at it that way.  Right now, I'm a full-fledged Breaking Bad junkie, and I just want to devour these final (no doubt excellent) episodes, and save the inevitable feeling of emptiness that will follow for much later.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 12 "Rabid Dog"

Shed a tear for the relationship of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.  We all knew that eventually Jesse would wake up and recognize Walter for the monster that he is.  Many more of us rooted for that day.  I, for one, while recognizing the inevitably of such an event, can't say I was looking forward to it.  Like Tony Soprano and Stringer Bell before him, Walter is one hell of anti-hero.  Many people hate him.  I love to hate him.  

Despite all his terrible deeds, I've developed quite an attraction to Walter over the years, and despite all that I know about his personality and the terrible things he has done, I still find find myself rooting for him intermittently.  Especially when he hatches one of his ingenious plans, or is just charmingly ridiculous (as in the scene in "Rabid Dog" which features a cameo from the famous Walter White tighty-whities).

For that reason, I always secretly hoped that the bromance (or broprenticeship?) between Jesse and Walt could be salvaged.  Unfortunately for that sentiment, as we see in "Rabid Dog", things between the two are officially beyond the point of no return.  Jesse was entirely ready to burn down the White household before Hank intervened, and Walt ends this episode seemingly just as ready to order a hit on Jesse via Todd's deranged Uncle.  

"Rabid Dog" is tense even by Breaking Bad standards, and the format of the episode is clever and appropriate.  The opening scenes (Walter stalking through his house with a handgun, Jesse seemingly lurking in the shadows) was really effective, and felt like something straight out of a Halloween movie, with Walter stepping in for Jamie Lee Curtis.  The tension stays high throughout the Walt-centric first half of the episode since we never know where Jesse is, and what he is planning (if anything).  

Midway through "Rabid Dog", though, the episode switches course and we see events through the eyes of Mr. Pinkman.  In his scenes, Jesse suddenly finds a new surrogate father in Hank, but unfortunately one interested in him for reasons just as selfish as Walter.  And as always, Breaking Bad takes cares to establish that there are no true heroes (and only gray areas) when Hank makes it clear to Gomez that he wouldn't mind Jesse getting killed one bit if it meant he could take down Walter.  

The episode ends with further development in the character arc of Jesse.  We saw him take action for the first time in seemingly forever in "Confessions", and at the end of "Rabid Dog" he appears positively Walter-esque while revealing to Hank that he has hatched a scheme to perhaps take down his mentor once and for all.  I, for one, can't wait to see what it is.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 11 "Confessions"

Aaron Paul fans rejoice, Jesse Pinkman is back in the thick of things on Breaking Bad.  Of course, even in limited screen time thus far in the second leg of season five, Paul has been fantastic.  But the show had become much more of a story about Hank and Walt over the last few episodes.  Against all odds, though, the constant machinations of Walt have managed to actually put him in a position of power over Hank, and so Dean Norris has to take a bit of a backseat in "Confessions".

Luckily, Paul is there to pick up the slack.  His scene in the desert is as great as any Pinkman moment we've had in this series, and a testament to what a strong, nuanced character that Jesse has evolved into over the years.  In that scene, everything is laid bare between Walt and Jesse.  The latter knows that the former not only killed Mike (the man who had become his true father figure, rather than the false one that Walter represents), but has also been manipulating him from the start, yet still can't seem to break his bizarre dependence on the man.

Luckily, just as Jesse is about to literally give up his life for Walt, he has the second most awaited realization remaining in the series (after the true circumstances surrounding the death Jane, of course, which may never come out unless Walt reveals it himself at some point): that Walt poisoned Brock.  Breaking Bad has a history of well-timed realizations, but this is a TV show, and this particular realization led to a ridiculously climactic ending to "Confessions", so it's hard to complain too much.  We've been dealing with passive Jesse for a long time (and Paul has been great in portraying that aspect of the character), so it was doubly shocking to see him beating up Saul and kicking in the door of the White household (thank God Junior wasn't home!).

We've been assuming all season that Hank would be the one to bring down Heisenberg, but it would be ironic if Jesse was the one who ultimately did the deed (via legal or illegal means).  On the other, from the perspective of Walter, there is no going back now in his relationship with Jesse.  Walt has shown an unwavering ability to eliminate everyone in his way, but will he actually be able to kill Jesse should the need arise?  The evidence in this episode certainly seems to point to 'yes'.  Mr. White is at his evil, manipulative best (worst?) in "Confessions".  Whenever Walt is in danger of becoming too sympathetic a character, Breaking Bad has a way of making us hate him again and that is accomplished spectacularly in this episode when Walt records his despicable "confession" video for Hank and Marie.

Meanwhile, with all of this going on, the adventures of Todd and his desert meth gang continue to pop up.  I can't help but wonder when that storyline will convene with the main one, and just what it will mean for our main characters.  As it winds to a close, Breaking Bad still very much has its hooks in me, and I can't wait for more.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 10 "Buried"

"Buried" is a bit of a transitional episode, largely dealing with the substantial fallout from the events of "Blood Money".  The episode is also significantly Skyler-centric, which has not been cause for great enthusiasm in past seasons of Breaking Bad.  Skyler has never been my favorite character, and while my opinion on that matter is unlikely to change this late in the run of the show, "Buried" doesn't suffer much for having her at the core of events this week.  

The scenes with Skyler are compelling mostly for their ambiguity.  At the start of the episode we, like Walt, don't know if Skyler has betrayed him.  Later, when she meets with Hank at the diner, Anna Gunn does a fine job of masking her character's true intentions.  I found myself wondering to what degree her reactions were a "performance", or legitimate, and whether she would remain loyal to Walt, or was on the verge of giving him up.  That sense of uncertainty lent a real sense of tension to the scenes involving Hank and Skyler that was textbook Breaking Bad.

The exchange between Skyler and Marie at the White household was arguably even better.  Whereas Hank (who obviously sees the value of Skyler to his case and doesn't want to risk offending her) was restrained in his exchange with Skyler, Marie is fiery and emotional.  The scene between the two sisters is the equivalent of the charged confrontation between Hank and Walt in "Blood Money", and Betsy Brandt simply does a fantastic job of letting Skyler have it.

Other than those two scenes, there is a lot of material here setting things into place for the final act of the series.  Todd, a character who has always intrigued me (I'm curious what his final role will be in the endgame of the show), reemerges.  Lydia pulls off a Walter-esque plot to improve her situation. Jesse is largely absent (but still looking not OK) outside of a glorious cliffhanger, and there is a sweet scene between Walter and Skyler at the end that serves to strengthen their relationship.

"Buried" finds Breaking Bad ease off the gas a bit, and perhaps hit cruise control.  Luckily, the show is well-scripted and acted enough to pull off the occasional episode in that vein. This breather may also serve us well in preparation for the surely climactic events soon to come.

Breaking Bad - Season 5, Episode 9 "Blood Money"

The hype surrounding Breaking Bad has reached a fever pitch that would be insufferable if this were any other show, but watching "Blood Money", it didn't take very long for me to be reminded of how justified the hype is in this particular case.  Breaking Bad may be ending, but it is still very much at the peak of its powers.  Personally, Game of Thrones has become my current favorite hour-long drama, but GoT remains somewhat of a guilty pleasure.  I love it in spite of how silly it is.  Breaking Bad by comparison is Shakespeare.  The themes, the cinematography, the performances.  This show really represents the best of television drama, and I will be sad to see it go.  That said,  if "Blood Money" is any indication of the quality of this second leg of season five, it will be a fitting end.

Several long-awaited moments finally come to fruition in this episode.  We learn that Walt's cancer has returned.  Jesse reveals that he has surmised the ultimate fate of Mike.  Walt realizes that Hank has uncovered his identity as Heisenberg.  And Walt and Hank have their showdown. That is a lot to take in, but luckily, each of these vital moments is afforded the gravity they deserve, thanks in no small part to the always stellar cast of Breaking Bad. Every actor on this show is so good that picking an MVP each week starts to feel pointlesss (not to mention that Bryan Cranston is on screen so much, and so consistently amazing every second he is on the screen, that he should be probably de facto MVP every week).  

But nonetheless, these fine actors deserve credit for their standout work, and this week Aaron Paul and Dean Norris earn special recognition.  They are both simply phenomenal in this episode.  The haunted look on his Jesse's during his conversation with Walt is unforgettable.  And after Walt lies to his face ("I need you to believe me") about not having killed Mike, Paul doesn't need to say a word for his face to communicate his distrust of Walter, as well as the sorrow he feels for Mike, his family, and all the other lives Walt (and by extension, Jesse himself) has ruined.  Norris is similarly effective in the scenes near the beginning of the episode when he learns the truth about Walt, and in their final encounter in the garage, when he gives Walt the sort of verbal dressing down everyone in the audience has sought to deliver themselves for five seasons.  

"Blood Money" could not have offered much more for Breaking Bad fans after a long layoff.  It feels like a season premiere, but is actually the conclusion of a mid-season cliffhanger, which meant the pacing was at a fever pitch from the beginning,  We got lots of callbacks to previous, memorable events in the series and lots of Walt/Jesse and Walt/Hank.  When a show with a massive pop culture footprint like Breaking Bad comes to an end, the results tend to be disappointing (see Lost, The Sopranos).  But the high quality of season five (continuing with this episode) gives high hopes that Breaking Bad will be one of the few shows of this caliber that manages to defy the odds and deliver a satisfying ending.  I certainly hope that proves to be the case.  I'm not quite ready to say goodbye Walter and co., but I certainly do hope they get the sendoff they deserve.